United Kingdom observation tower
Spinnaker Tower
You can see 54 km from here, looking east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 54 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 54 kmFarthest ridgelooking east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 16%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
- 33Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 4 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 33 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from April to May, in July and in September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset25%
- Febwest6 min before the sea-level sunset25%
- Marwest6 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Aprwest6 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Maynorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Junnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Julnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset31%
- Augnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Sepwest6 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Octwest6 min before the sea-level sunset27%
- Novsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset24%
- Decsouth-west10 min before the sea-level sunset24%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Spinnaker Tower.
Sightseeing tower in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Spinnaker Tower is an observation tower in United Kingdom.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 54 km away, looking east.
The sea fills 16% of the horizon.
33 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is St Boniface Down (241 m), 22 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from April to May, in July and in September.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.Official site↗
- Stokes Bay Home Parkcampsite · 4.2 km · 17 within 10 km
- Holiday Inn Expressplace to stay · 0.3 km · 123 within 10 km
- Portsmouthnearest town · 1.3 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in PortsmouthBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Southampton Airport (SOU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 24 km in a straight lineCar hire at SOU airport (Southampton)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 1other viewpoints within 5 km
- 7marked trails within 3 kmPilgrims' Trail, Solent Way, European walking route E9, Isle of Wight alternative and 4 more
- 32shelters and huts within 5 km
- 548car parks within 3 km
- 1visitor centres within 5 km
- 246restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 17campsites within 10 kmStokes Bay Home Park, Kingfisher Caravan Park, Southsea Leisure Park and 14 more
- 123places to stay within 10 kmHoliday Inn Express, Duke of Buckingham, Holiday Inn and 120 more
- named peaks within 5 km
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Spinnaker Tower, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas20 mountains within 25 km
Forestyas1 forests and trees within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Spinnaker Tower
United Kingdom
- 66Viewyas Score
- 54 kmFarthest ridge
- 33Peaks in view
- 4 mAltitude
Ballard Cliff
United Kingdom · 61 km
- 79Viewyas Score
- 95 kmFarthest ridge
- 69Peaks in view
- 115 mAltitude
Gad Cliff
United Kingdom · 77 km
- 83Viewyas Score
- 124 kmFarthest ridge
- 28Peaks in view
- 128 mAltitude
Swyre Head
United Kingdom · 85 km
- 80Viewyas Score
- 115 kmFarthest ridge
- 22Peaks in view
- 91 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q541846) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Islandyas, Forestyas, Birdyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
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Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
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